Escaped Tiger's Death Provokes Tears, Questions

Wildlife Officials Defend The Killing Of Bobo, Owned By A Former `Tarzan' Actor.

LOXAHATCHEE -- State wildlife officials defended themselves against an onslaught of criticism Wednesday for killing Bobo, the nearly 600-pound tiger that made international headlines by escaping from a former Tarzan actor's home.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission again refused to name the officer who shot Bobo on Tuesday because of an ongoing investigation and to protect the officer, officials said.

Since the shooting, which happened a few hundred yards from the 5-acre compound where Steve Sipek lives with five other exotic big cats, local residents have harassed wildlife officers about Bobo's death. The agency has gotten thousands of irate e-mails and phone calls from across the globe.

"It's a really bad scene for our agency right now," Maj. Brett Norton said. "If this had gone the other way and my officer was laying there mauled, what would be the take on this now?"

Sipek, who once portrayed Tarzan and keeps his animals in a maze of cages, appeared on three network television morning shows Wednesday, accusing wildlife officers of killing his beloved pet without provocation. He appeared on CNN's Larry King Live and was scheduled to appear early today on ABC's late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live.

As well-wishers visited Sipek on Wednesday to offer condolences and express their rage and frustration with state wildlife authorities, he fought back tears while offering his account of the killing.

Sipek said he has been overwhelmed by the reaction to the tiger's death, which he said includes phone calls from as far as England, Germany and Sweden. He plans to bury Bobo on his property, where he also keeps two lions, a cougar and another tiger, according to a June inspection by state officials.

Bobo escaped Monday afternoon through gates unlocked by someone who knew the cages had hidden locks, Sipek said. He has cared for 102 exotic cats since 1969 and now wants more tigers.

"I'll get 50 more tigers. They think Tarzan is crazy, but he's not," he said. "They've been trying to get rid of my animals for 35 years. I'd like to see them do that now. I'll die with my babies."

But the mission for wildlife officers and a wildlife expert who helped with the search was always to reunite Bobo with Sipek, officials said.

David Hitzig, executive director of the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in Jupiter, hoped for a happy outcome.

"It made perfect sense that what we needed to do was to get Steve Sipek and the cat together. There was never any dispute or discrepancy over that," he said.

Wildlife officers were told that if they spotted Bobo, they were to immediately radio for the tranquilizer dart team and keep the cat in sight without disturbing him, Hitzig said. The plan then called for Sipek to come to the scene and tranquilize Bobo only if he couldn't be coaxed home. Hitzig was on his way to Bobo when he heard gunshots.

"We were in a dead run at that point going to where the cat was," Hitzig said. "The cat was still alive when I got to it. I did everything that I could."

Fatally wounded, Bobo was bleeding from his mouth and nose.

Within moments, Hitzig said, the officer was apologizing for shooting Bobo but repeatedly said he had no choice. Bobo had hissed and lunged at the officer, who shot it with an M-4 rifle.

Norton said five bullet casings were found, but officials don't yet know how many times Bobo was shot. The cat will be transported today to the University of Florida so the head of pathology can perform a necropsy. Norton said the agency decided to have the procedure done in Gainesville to get an unbiased opinion.

Bobo was shot in the shoulder area, but the necropsy will provide forensic evidence showing how many times the tiger was shot, the bullets' trajectory and an exact cause of death.

Not all wildlife officers have tranquilizer guns, because the narcotic in darts is strictly regulated and each officer would have to receive additional training to carry a dart gun, Norton said.

But even if the officer had a tranquilizer gun, Hitzig said, Bobo would have been able to attack the officer because a tranquilizer can take one to six minutes to take effect. If Bobo was lunging at the officer, the dart would not have stopped his actions, Hitzig said. Sipek rushed to the scene shortly after the shooting.

Because the officers were moving west and Bobo was found facing in that direction as well, Sipek thinks the cat posed no threat.

"He never had a chance to escape," he said.

Two investigations, one to determine how Bobo escaped and another into the shooting, will be conducted. Sipek could face criminal charges and be billed for the search if the investigation concludes he was negligent. At least two animal-advocacy groups Wednesday called for the state's wildlife commission to revoke Sipek's exotic-animal license.